Over here, I talk about creating open lines of communication with brand ambassadors, or brand advocates, via social dress sites like StyleDiary, ShareYourLook, and Shoutfit.
On Yahoo’s Search Marketing Blog, Edwin Wong, Senior Manager, Market Research recently posted about using social media to develop advocates for your brand, based on recent Yahoo!-comScore study. Findings from the study as well as Wong’s own personal examples illustrate the ways people use social media like blogs and email to gather and share information about those brands or products they care about. This method of communication influences purchasing decisions as well as company reputation and image – all of which is relevant for Fashion PR as well as other consumer-based PR specialties.
Wong offers a helpful definition of Brand Advocates:
Brand advocates are adventurous opinion leaders and social influencers who are slightly younger, more educated and spend more time online than non-advocates.
He concludes:
- Brand advocates are incredibly valuable to marketers because they are better connected consumers with a larger sphere of influence.
- As thought leaders, if you can reach them, they will influence a larger group.
- Advocates are avid researchers who consider more brands, and this makes them more open to dialogue with marketers.
- Post-purchase, they have higher levels of brand commitment, are more likely to recommend brands, and tend to talk about positive experiences.
- Advocates are opinion leaders who influence other people’s purchase decisions, telling at least twice as many people about their purchases than non-advocates.
Anna Wintour is meeting with nutritionists and Diane von Furstenburg, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, has called the skinny model debacle a “global fashion issue.” However, not everyone is convinced that the recent press regarding the consequences of promoting near-skeletal bodies on the runway is anything more than a ploy to get more coverage during fashion week.
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